Julie Simpson - Founding Consultant
- Details
- Category: Directors and Associates
Julie Simpson is the parent of a 42 year old woman who requires substantial assistance to live within her community. Julie and her daughter Kara are successfully managing a self-directed funding package in order for the Kara to live in her own home and to have a lifestyle similar to that valued by the general community. Including the opportunity to be part of and contribute to her community.
In her capacity in the sector as a professional, Julie has a history of successfully establishing non-government disability organisations that are consumer driven, merging values and organisational learning practice, including the facilitation of community living, family support, individualised employment and family driven agencies that enhance the leadership capacity of families using person centred planning, and action networks.
Julie has a reputation for developing innovative and entrepreneurial projects that highlight family leadership, which has driven her professional career. In 1992 she completed a successful pilot project for the Australian Government – the then Department of Human Services and Health – now Families Health and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs - on Individualised Funding. The brief was to develop a framework, including the design of a personalised individual needs analysis-a Lifestyle Plan, and a structure to distribute and account for funding and practical ways to support individuals around their self direction. The Social Policy Research Centre, University of N.S.W. evaluated 4 of the 8 pilots and only the Fraser Coast project successfully met its outcomes.
Julie is a founding Director of Pathways to Leadership Ltd., a not for profit organisation established in 2002 by a group of families. The Directors are from across Australia, created from an informal network with common goals and philosophies, and extensive experience in initiatives that enable people with a disability and their families (families) to contribute to their communities and lead self directed lives. Since its inception the organisation has developed into one of partnerships between families and professionals. Facilitators are families and professionals who use person centred practices. These Associates have a common set of values and come from a variety of backgrounds. They have links to formal and informal networks across Australia and Internationally.
In 2003, under Julie/’s leadership the organisation received funding from the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services Stronger Families and Community Strategy to develop a course – Pathways to Possibilities© – to enable families to plan and action a desirable future, based, with permission, on Framework For Accomplishment© by John O’Brien and Connie Lyle O’Brien (1987). This course has demonstrated many successful outcomes for individuals with a disability, and families, and has been facilitated in several jurisdictions across Australia, as well as in Dublin, Ireland with funding from Trinity College.
As a professional during her career she has developed a number of consumer led organisations in Queensland. As the founding director of Parent to Parent Association Qld Inc., she developed a family driven organisation funded by Government, where experienced and suitably trained families assist others to plan desirable futures for their family members with a disability across Queensland, using person centred planning. The organisation also assists other families to develop agencies that will enable them to self-direct and has a highly positive reputation for its innovation. In 2010 an evaluation by Griffith University of Self Directed Leadership-parents creating participatory lives with adults with disabilities, a project developed under her leadership at Parent to Parent Association Qld Inc., demonstrates Julie’s passion and commitment. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Human Services); has a Diploma in Training and Assessment Systems and is the author of a number of journal and other articles.
Contact Julie
e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
t: +61 417 079 788